All Fun, No Fuss: Maeve + Chris' Malone House Wedding

Having fallen in love in London, Belfast couple Maeve and Chris knew their Irish wedding would have quite a few English guests and so wanted it to be the most fun wedding ever. Focusing on some good Irish craic, Maeve and Chris hired Malone House exclusively and filled it with Irish wedding details captured for us by Jonathan Ryder, personalised cocktails and lots of good (dance-all-night-worthy) music. Wish you were invited? So do we...

Both from Belfast, Maeve and Chris first met whilst Maeve was living abroad in Brighton. Maeve recalls their love story..."I was at university in Brighton and Chris studied in Belfast. In Summer 2007 I was home and got a summer job in the pharmacy where Chris worked – our first encounter was when Chris came into the shop on a day off to buy some headache tablets after a heavy night out; he claims his headache has persisted ever since! We liked each other but as we were both living in different countries neither of us thought anything would happen. The following Christmas when I was home we bumped into each other in the Limelight and we have been together ever since. For the first 18 months we did the long distance thing, which was difficult. Chris finished his course in Belfast whilst I finished my studies in Brighton. In 2009 Chris moved to London so we were able to see each other at weekends, and a year later I moved to London too."

Finally in the same country as one another, Maeve and Chris decided to get married while on a month long trip to Australia. Maeve remembers..."We just decided to get married, so went on a big trip to Australia for a month (the best holiday ever!!) and came back engaged. Chris tells people he proposed on one of the Whitsunday islands (but it didn’t really happen like that he just tries to jazz it up.)" The secret's out now Chris...

For their wedding Maeve and Chris returned to Belfast, where they were joined by a host of English guests, friends and family.

As lots of guests had travelled from the UK Maeve and Chris wanted to make sure their wedding day was fun from beginning to end, and filled with authentic Irish details. Maeve told us..."Having lived in London for a few years we knew that we would have lots of friends over from England so we wanted to give them a good Belfast wedding. We organised a vintage bus to transport our guests from the church to Malone House. We arranged a Morgan cocktail (Mojito) and a Garland cocktail (Gin Fizz) and lots of little milk bottles and straws so our guests could help themselves during the drinks reception. We also provided Tayto crisps so our English friends would finally know what we had been talking about for years. "

Keeping everyone in high spirits Maeve and Chris had a band play before their meal - resulting in lots of dancing, even before the canapés and cocktails.

Once the first round of dancing was done, Maeve, Chris and guests went indoors - which was decorated with lots of lush purple flowers, a table plan inspired by the London tube and Jagermeister in medicine bottles as a nod to Maeve and Chris' pharmacy professions.

Such a classic and gorgeous bride!

A big congratulations to you both, and thanks so much for sharing your wedding day with us all. A big thank you also goes to Jonathan Ryder for sharing his work with us. To see more from Jonathan Ryder visit www.jonathanryderphotography.com